Literary Disco

On today's episode, we revisit a recent conversation with one favorite authors on the podcast, George Saunders, whose new story collection Liberation Day is out now. This episode is brought to you by Bombas, the socks Julia and her family is ALWAYS wearing! Go to bombas.com/disco and use code DISCO for 20% off your purchase! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, on Literary Disco, we continue our genre-based season. Each episode of this season, we're diving deep into a particular literary genre, exploring what defines it, what makes it work or not work, interviewing authors, talking to fans, scholars, whomever can help us unlock what it is that makes a genre a genre. And with this, our third episode, we grab a flashlight, head into the dark woods to that house on the hill or just maybe the closet in our own room to creep around the corners, waiting for the tingling sensation in the back of our necks. And we try to find what's in the darkness as we confront the genre of horror. This episode's special guests include Jeff Jerome, Curator Emeritus of the Poe House and Museum; Susan Scarf Merrell, author of Shirley based on the life of Shirley Jackson; and novelist and screenwriter C. Robert Cargill, who wrote the films Sinister, Doctor Strange, and The Black Phone. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, we continue our genre-based season where we dive deep into a literary genre exploring what defines it, what makes it work and not work, interviewing authors, talking to fans and scholars, whoever can unlock what makes a genre a genre. In our second episode, we find a body, a clue or two, maybe even some justice. We'll undoubtedly confront the darkness and the human heart as we talk crime. This week, our special guests are private investigator Lee Lofland, author of Police Procedure & Investigation: A Guide for Writers; Melissa Chadburn, author of A Tiny Upward Shove; and writer Ross Angelella. Dum dum dum. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we launch a new format of the Disco as we begin our "Genre Season." Each episode of this season, we're going to dive deep into a particular literary genre, exploring what defines it, what makes it work or not work, interviewing authors, talking to fans, scholars, whoever can help us unlock what it is that makes a genre a genre. With our inaugural episode, we discover our long lost lineage. hop on Pegasus, and fly to the far reaches of fantasy. Joining us is actor and writer Will Friedle, fantasy author Brandon Sanderson, and Dungeons & Dragons game designer Kate Welch. This is Literary Disco, the last book club you'll ever need. Explore more of Brandon Sanderson in our Mistborn episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a recording of a live episode from Sea Tea Improv in Hartford, Connecticut, back in March. Julia and Rider are joined by special guests curator Mallory Howard of the Mark Twain House & Museum and librarian Gwen Glazer of the Croton Free Library -- and Tod's disembodied head joining virtually. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey, guys! It's been a while. While Julia may have grown a beard, Rider still hasn't cut his hair, and Tod is still up to his old bullshit, we've been still reading books and are ready to start a new season -- with some surprises! Listen in to find out what we're going to be up to in 2022. We're also coming to a town near you! And by town near you, we mean those of you near Hartford, Connecticut! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/literary-disco-live-with-rider-and-julia-tickets-290492309317 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's episode 200. We're going to talk about what's changed over the years, and maybe do a bookshelf revisit. Who knows?! We're getting old. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Julia, Rider, and Tod head back to school with special guest Bree Rolfe, a teacher from Austin, Texas, where she helps high school students discover literature and creative writing. She is also a poet, whose collection Who's Going to Love the Dying Girl is out now. She is also a dear friend of Literary Disco, a fellow graduate of the Bennington Writing Seminars and exactly one semester ahead of the rest of us. Bree was involved in a lot of the late-night drinking and debating sessions that became this very podcast. For today's discussion, Bree had us read three short stories that she assigns to her students: "Girl" by Jamaica Kincaid, "New Boy" by Roddy Doyle, and "Today Is Costa Rica" by Assaf Gavron. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Julia, Rider, and Tod tackle the incredibly popular, enduring, and surprisingly diverse world of the horse girl. We have read a classic of the genre, Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry, and have read a new collection of essays edited by Halimah Marcus entitled Horse Girls, in which female writers go deep on horses and the horse girl phenomenon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode of Literary Disco, Julia, Rider, and Tod take on John Steinbeck's classic epic novel East of Eden, which centers on the Salinas Valley of California and tells the story of several generations of the Trask and Hamilton families. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode of Literary Disco, while Rider's off camping, Tod and Julia talk about their philosophy of pool reads—and why they'll read books at the pool that they'd never be caught reading anywhere else. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week's episode, Julia, Rider, and Tod read some poetry -- and discuss Lauren Shapiro's poetry collection, Arena, which was published in 2020 to rave reviews. Lauren Shapiro is the author of Easy Math (Sarabande, 2013), which was the winner of the Kathryn A. Morton Prize and the Debut-litzer Prize for Poetry, as well as a chapbook of poems, Yo-Yo Logic (DIAGRAM/New Michigan Press, 2011). She is an associate professor of English at Carnegie Mellon University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, Julia, Rider, and Tod discuss three articles from Alta Magazine, the publication based in California that focuses on news, history, literature, and culture, with a decidedly Western bent. Its founder, William Hearst III, declares it to be "a literate magazine that serves as a counterpoint to the New Yorker." Articles discussed: "The Accident on the Pacific Crest Trail" by Louise Farr, about the tragic death of a hiker "When the Mafia Came to Lodi" by Andrew Dubbins, about the mafia's attempt to infiltrate California and the undercover case that took them down "The Search of a Lifetime" by Julian Smith, about a woman investigating a cold case of her grandfather's murder This episode's sponsor: Scribd. Go to try.scribd.com/literarydisco for a free 60-day trial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today's episode, Julia, Rider, and Tod talk about all the things human beings never want to talk about: death, pain, sickness, and more, when we discuss Atul Gawande's seminal 2014 book Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End. Today's sponsor: This episode is supported by GreenChef. Go to GreenChef.com/90disco and use code 90disco to get $90 off including free shipping! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today's episode, Julia, Rider, and Tod discuss Brandon Hobson's new novel, The Removed, that follows a Cherokee family in Oklahoma in the aftermath of their son's death at the hands of a police officer. Today's sponsor: This episode is supported by GreenChef. Go to GreenChef.com/90disco and use code 90disco to get $90 off including free shipping! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Julia, Tod, and Rider celebrate Literary Disco’s ninth birthday by breaking out some book games. In Judging a Book by Its Cover, Rider reads the first few lines of a book while Tod and Julia try to guess the era, genre, author, and even the book itself. In Game Two, Julia and Rider try to decipher between a poem, a song, a popular song, and something Tod's made up. And in the final game, Julia leads a round of Bookshelf Roulette. Plus, the countless book digressions and recommendations they've been making for nearly a decade. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Julia, Tod, and Rider talk about their favorite crime reads—and why we're so hooked on the genre, anyway. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Julia, Tod, and Rider go behind the scenes of Tod’s new book, The Low Desert, out now from Counterpoint. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today's special episode, we are live from LumaCon 2021 — a comic convention brought to you by a cohort of public libraries in Sonoma County, California. Today, we discuss the graphic novel Cruel Summer by Ed Brubaker, and then a Q&A with the live audience. This episode is brought to you by Literati Kids. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, for the first time in a while, Julia, Rider, and Tod tackle a single short story. We solicited our listeners via social media for recommendations, and a couple of you directed us to "The Neighbors" by Shruti Swamy, which is available online at Electric Literature and is part of the collection A House Is a Body. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today's episode, we welcome one of our favorite authors on the podcast, George Saunders, to discuss his latest book, A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, which takes a close look at seven Russian short stories and offers insight on reading and writing. This episode is brought to you by Amazon Publishing, publishers of the Faraway Collection. Download now at Amazon.com/FarawayStories. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Julia, Rider, and Tod take on the year 2020 and all its glory and misery. Each of them picks the best thing they read in 2020 for the podcast and the best thing each read on their own... if they found any time to read on their own. This episode is brought to you by Amazon Publishing, publishers of the Faraway Collection. Download now at Amazon.com/FarawayStories. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today's special holiday episode, Rider, Tod, and Julia discuss the work of storyteller and humorist Jean Shepherd, whose book In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash formed the basis for the classic 1980 film A Christmas Story. This episode is brought to you by Amazon Publishing, publishers of the Faraway Collection. Download now at Amazon.com/FarawayStories. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, in a special parents only episode, Rider and Julia discuss the works of poet, songwriter, cartoonist, and all-around Renaissance man of children's literature, Shel Silverstein. This episode is brought to you by Amazon Publishing, publishers of the Faraway Collection. Download now at Amazon.com/FarawayStories. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A massive art installation in the New Mexico desert. A Manson-like cult leader whose followers barricade themselves inside. An artist plagued by guilt, and a lonely teenager with violent intentions. This week, Julia, Rider, and Tod discuss Scott O'Connor's literary thriller Zero Zone—and why the 1970s was the ideal decade for this story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we embrace the melodrama, the secret, the amnesia, the surprise relative, the multiple personality disorder, the rape, the recasting, the coming back from the dead, the love, the murder, and the marriages (!), as we talk about all things soap opera with special guests Natalie Zea and Travis Schuldt. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, as the election looms in America and tensions run high, Julia, Rider, and Tod talk about what they're reading that is bringing them peace, what's helping them stay calm, or at least distracting them from an incessant, terrifying news cycle. Rather than just their own ideas, they asked listeners to chime in with what they're reading for comfort -- and resulted in a whole lot of responses! Settle in with a glass of wine and try to relax with Literary Disco before November 3rd. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You might remember the 1979 cartoon film adaptation? Or maybe the 1999 Canadian TV series? Or the 2018 British miniseries--or maybe the play or role-playing game? Or maybe you read the original novel Watership Down, written by Richard Adams, published in 1972. This week, Julia, Rider, and Tod discuss this epic book that centers on a small group of rabbits that leave their home and roam all of a few acres to find a new warren. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Julia, Rider, and Tod read and discuss Jericho Brown's Pulitzer Prize-winning collection, The Tradition. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Julia, Rider, and Tod read and discuss the essay "Hojoki: or, An Account of My Hut," written in the 13th century by the Japanese poet and essayist Kamo no Chōmei. about his time living in a ten-foot by ten-foot hut in the mountains. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, Julia, Rider, and Tod discuss book six, seven, and eight of George Eliot's Middlemarch, bringing an end to our long and oft-delayed quarantine read of this nineteenth-century masterpiece. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, with another short break from Middlemarch, Julia, Rider, and Tod talk about Jenny Offill's latest novel Weather. They also discuss the beauty of the "bidet life" and the adjustment of fearing everything. This week's episode is sponsored by HelloFresh. Go to HelloFresh.com/80literarydisco and use code 80literarydisco to get a total of $80 off, including free shipping on your first box. Additional restrictions apply, please visit HelloFresh.com for more details.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The return of Literary Disco! Today, we continue our march through Middlemarch as we read the George Eliot classic and book five, The Dead Hand. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Julia, Rider, and Tod do an old-fashion bookshelf revisit where each of them take a volume for their shelves and bring it up for discussion. Julia's pick: The Stranger in the Woods by Michael Finkel Rider's pick: Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace Tod's pick: Death, Immortality, and Meaning in Life by John Martin Fischer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week is part four of our #Quarantine read of George Eliot's long and intimidating classic novel from the nineteenth century, Middlemarch. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, in another departure from our Middlemarch read, we will read one of the new Choose Your Own Adventure books, which unlike the beloved books from the 80s, the new Choose Your Own Adventure novels are based on the lives of historical figures, except that they are all spies! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week is part three of our #Quarantine read of George Eliot's long and intimidating classic novel from the nineteenth century, Middlemarch. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today's episode, as a quick respite from our reading of Middlemarch, Julia, Rider, and Tod each present a poem to discuss. Julia presents "The Mower" by Philip Larkin; Rider presents "No worst, there is none" by Gerard Manley Hopkins; and Tod presents "Go Make Something Old" by Matthew Zapruder. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week is part two of our #Quarantine read of George Eliot's long and intimidating classic novel from the nineteenth century, Middlemarch. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bob Dylan released something new during the pandemic: Murder Most Foul, a seventeen-minute long song that begins with John F. Kennedy's assassination. This week, Julia, Rider, and Tod discuss the lyrics, Dylan in general, and Dylan's surprising Nobel Prize in Literature. What a trickster... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ever wondered what 900 pages of turgid prose sounds like when dropped on a desk? This week is part one of our #Quarantine read of George Eliot's long and intimidating classic novel from the nineteenth century, Middlemarch. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this special episode, Julia, Rider, and Tod explore the novel that started it all, Kristy's Great Idea by Ann M. Martin, answering the question: Where would a now twenty-something be without the mistakes and life lessons of Kristy, Mary Anne, Claudia, Stacey and co.?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, we discuss a classic of Native American storytelling, a story told by generations of the Nez Perce tribe entitled "Coyote and the Shadow People." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In another short episode for the Pandemic, the Literary Disco trio are tackling another form of writing they've never covered before: the comic strip. Gil Thorp comes from cartoonists Neal Rubin and Rod Whigham -- and Tod immediately regrets choosing this as his selection. Enjoy and be safe out there! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In today's short episode, the Literary Disco trio will tackle a form of writing we have never done before: the YouTube comedy sketch! Today we're watching "The Faux Pas," posted by the comedy duo BriTANick. Welcome to the Pandemic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today's episode, Julia, Rider, and Tod discuss Steph Cha's 2019 novel Your House Will Pay, a book set in Los Angeles that follows two families on opposite sides of a racially charged shooting. They ask the question: is this the greatest novel about Los Angeles in the last twenty-five years? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When was the last time you listened to someone, or someone really listened to you? This week, Julia, Rider, and Tod discuss a new nonfiction book from Kate Murphy, You're Not Listening, about the fine art, the inherent power, and the cultural decline of listening in today's world, and question whether either of them are actually great listeners, or just great talkers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this today’s episode, we discuss The Overstory by Richard Powers, a Pulitzer Prize-winning from 2018 that centers trees in a variety of context as the focus of its storytelling. Can a book about trees actually captivate us for hundreds of pages? Today’s episode is sponsored by HelloFresh, America's number one meal kit. Go to HelloFresh.com/literarydisco10 and use code literarydisco10 during HelloFresh’s New Year’s sale for 10 free meals including free shipping. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In our first episode of 2020, Julia, Rider, and Tod discuss Madeline Miller’s novel Circe, which retells some of the most infamous Greek myths from the point of view of Circe, a witch who most famously appears in The Odyssey who turns Odysseus’s men into pigs. The trio discusses whether we should still care about Greek mythology, and how it stands up to our current state of fantasy in contemporary literature. Today’s episode is sponsored by HelloFresh, America's number one meal kit. Go to HelloFresh.com/literarydisco10 and use code literarydisco10 during HelloFresh’s New Year’s sale for 10 free meals including free shipping. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Julia, Rider, and Tod look back at the last ten years -- seven of which they've been recording this podcast -- from the books they've read on the show to their own personal favorites. Additionally, they discuss the trends they've noticed in publishing over the last decade -- and their favorite shirt from the 2010s as well. Buckle in, because the 2020s are going to be a wild ride. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode, the Literary Disco trio discuss Vladimir Nabokov’s 1962 novel, less popular than Lolita but it is nonetheless complicated, maintains a rabid fan base, and has received a wide variety of interpretations. They also discuss the National Book Awards, which was happening when the episode was recorded. This episode is sponsored by Hingston & Olsen, publishers of the 2019 Short Story Advent Calendar. Don’t wait until December 1. Order your copy today, from shortstoryadventcalendar.com, and enter the promo code LITERARYDISCO at checkout to get 10% off your purchase. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices